Clos de Vougeot 1989 La Grande Cave

Clos de Vougeot is one of the most famous grand cru vineyards in Burgundy. It is the largest grand cru site in the Cote de Nuits region, covering 50 hectares (124 acres) of land, and is second only to Corton in the entire Côte d’Or. Clos de Vougeot is famously fragmented – it is divided into 100 different parcels owned by more than 80 different producers, and the wines made here vary considerably in character and quality. 

The site dominates the Vougeot appellation in the center of the Côte de Nuits. The Musigny and Echezeaux vineyards are on the slopes above Clos de Vougeot, while the bottom edge of the vineyard reaches right to the bottom of the slope, where there is little separation between the grand cru vines and the village-level climats on the other side of the road. Like most vineyards in the Côte de Nuits, Clos de Vougeot is planted entirely to Pinot Noir.

Clos de Vougeot was first established by Cistercian monks in the 11th Century, with the clos (or wall) and the château added later. It is divided into 18 lieux-dits, reflecting the fact that ownership of the land was historically divided between the Cistercian monks who planted the original vines, the Roman Catholic Church, and the French crown. These divisions became less meaningful after the French Revolution, when the land was confiscated by the state and promptly sold to a rich banker. Subsequent changes in ownership have seen the land divided up considerably, and today there are more than 80 landholders in Clos de Vougeot. The largest of these is Château de la Tour, with around 5ha (12 acres), but Domaine Méo-Camuzet, Louis Jadot and Gros Frère et Soeur also have significant holdings in the vineyard.